Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates and provides a means to a folding seat assemblage to be attached to any typical luggage cart that carries baggage, packages and goods for travelers at airports, as well as ship, train and bus terminals.
The invention utilizes the seat folding function and general arrangements of prior art, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,205 from the same inventor, and adds optional arrangements and attachments to ensure additional safety for the user, and permits practical means for modifying a wide range of cart designs in existence without requiring them to make major changes to their present design, in order to accomodate the use of a seat for a tired traveler. Optionally, if so desired , two seats may be added to the cart, used independently, one on each side.
Presently, almost all airports, as well as train, bus and ship terminals have available for the travelers luggage carts to help them convey their bagage about the terminals to ticket agents and various objectives while waiting for their transportation to arrive or leave. During these long waiting periods they are obliged to stand, sometimes without any place to rest during extended hours. Recent security problems have increased the wait time and produced long lines of passengers without access to chairs or seats during these periods. In addition, often times a flight would be cancelled or delayed as passengers with small children or the aged must wait standing tiredly since frequently there are no seats available and the carts they use have no provisions for resting during their long delayed wait.
The present invention has risen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore described disadvantage of the present luggage cart available to the public in that it contains only provisions for carrying passengers"" suitcases, bags and parcels, but no provisions for the passengers"" personal comfort, i.e., seating while waiting in the terminals.
Presently, the luggage carts available in the market at the various terminals contain no provisions for seating the tired waiting traveler. Some patents, however, show equipment handling systems including carts with seats, but all such patents are designed, operate and configured quite differently from the present invention, as will be discussed below:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,710xe2x80x94Wilson-Hyde, Step Aerobic Platform, shows a seat mounted on an aerobic platform and does not attach to a cart. It does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,246xe2x80x94Chim Ho Thai, Seat Device Attached to Baggage Handcart, shows a seat supported by a single center tubular leg to a horizontal seat plate. The plate can rotate about a pin axis and is mounted on the two wheel L-shaped handcart frame whose lower projecting leg supports the baggage, and whose vertical leg contains two wheels at the bottom for wheeling the luggage and the top of this same member is where the traveler handles the handcart and tilts it at an angle to retain the loaded luggage. This patent does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,924xe2x80x94Reiland et al, Shopping Cart with Internal Seat, shows a shopping cart with a seat and basket attached to the front end of the cart and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,892xe2x80x94Kratzenberg et al, Push Luggage Cart, shows a handcart that contains no seat and only a basket and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. D315,904xe2x80x94Adamson et al, shows a luggage cart containing no seat and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,239xe2x80x94Chung-shiu Su, Collapsible Luggage Cart, shows a collapsible cart and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,877xe2x80x94Pastien, Cart Apparatus with Improved Handle, shows a cart with an improved handle design that does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,870xe2x80x94Muellner, Versatile Cart Apparatus, shows a cart that contains a fixed aft facing seat or tray and the seat is mounted in a manner that the vehicle can move with the person on it and will roll. The seated person seats high on the cart frame. This patent does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. D263,127xe2x80x94Muellner, Luggage Cart with Adult Seat, shows the design of a cart with an adult seat fixed and mounted in the cart frame in a manner that the person seats very high on it, and the cart can move or roll while the person is seating. This patent does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,927xe2x80x94Kurek III, Folding Handle Device, shows a folding device that rotates around the eye of a vertical stud that contains a compression spring to retain the handle in the vertical or horizontal position, and it does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,205xe2x80x94Cabedo, Luggage Cart with Attached Seat, shows a four wheel cart that contains a folding seat mounted on the cart structure. The seat is manually rotated to the stow position and the push handle is rotated manually to a vertical position for head clearance. The function of both operations are not connected in the above Patent, while the present invention interconnects these two functions: the up and down movement of the seat, and the rotation of the handle. In the present invention, when optionally a seat is installed on the back of the cart, it is rotated up and down with the cart push handle. In the above Patent the seat is plain, while in the present invention the seat is spring loaded, helping to lift it upward to its stow position, and the rotating push handle is different as it has an extension arm to interface with the seat lift linkage and also contains a double pivot capability to permit laying over 180 degrees forward to clear a container or basket whenever same is part of the cart. In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, it also shows one or two seats on the side of the cart. In the Cabedo Patent, the seat is supported by two vertical legs interconnected with a cross bar, while the present invention utilizes a single bent support for the seat load. The Cabedo Patent guide link slides up and down the cart structure frame, while the present invention utilizes a fixed pivot to retain the horizontal guide link. There is also a major difference on how to support the weight on the seat: the Cabedo Patent supports the load with a diagonal truss member and two vertical tubes, while the present invention utilizes only a guided bent vertical tube to support the seat. The basics of the two inventions are different and the referred to Cabedo Patent does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,215xe2x80x94Chamberlain et al, Folding Seat Assembly, shows a folding seat assembly that folds against a wall, and the linkage and folding hinge assembly does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,257,211xe2x80x94V. Willoughby, Seat, shows a seat that folds against a wall and the hinge assembly and support frame are mounted differently to the seat and in the folded up position the seat is locked up against the wall in such way that it does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,360xe2x80x94Chin-Feng Lin, Push Car, shows that this patent is primarily a two wheel frame that contains a flexible seat for a baby on a luggage hand car, and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,073xe2x80x94Hung-Hsin, Tractive Baggage Handcart, shows a two wheeled handcart that comprises a travel case, a tractive retractable device on back of said travel case, a tie belt and a foldable chair, and it does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,811xe2x80x94Cheng, Trolley with a Foldable Seat, shows a foldable seat assembly mounted on a hand cart and the seat support assembly contact the soil by means of two pair of stands, and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,709xe2x80x94J. T. Shackel, Utility Carts, shows a seat mounted and fixed on the front part of an utility cart and does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,365xe2x80x94G. F. Corduan, Chair, shows a metal folding chair not attached to a wheeled baggage cart and which in turn, the parts, design and construction do not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,692,930xe2x80x94E. W. Cummings, Foldable Service Board, shows a service board folding against the wall and the configuration, parts and foldable system do not apply to the present invention.
German Patent #911173xe2x80x94Hubner, Foldable Garden Chair, shows a foldable chair that runs in a slot, and it does not apply to the present invention.
The present invention provides a means for the attachment of a folding seat that can be attached to the side, or to the back, of any typical baggage cart, and provides a means for convenient automatic positioning of such seat and the necessary rotation of the push/pull handle to achieve needed head room.
The lateral seat, when rotated down to the seated deployed position, has an extended support that rotates from the bottom side of the seat, outward and down to support the weight of the seated user, and conveys this weight load directly to the floor level that the baggage cart rests upon. This extension of the support is positioned vertically beneath the seat by a rotating guide link attached to the luggage cart frame. The seat rotates to the horizontal level seated position, and rotates to the stowed vertical flat against the cart structure position by two or more hinge fittings that attach to the baggage cart structure. The extended load support beneath the seat is attached to the bottom of the seat near its center with two fittings that provide rotational capability to the seat support. The embodiment of this support is shown as a U-shape bent tube with the two vertical legs engaging the previous discussed rotational fittings. The two guide links are attached at one end to the luggage cart support structure, and at the other end, to the two vertical legs of the extended U-shape bent tube seat support. The seat is spring loaded to the stowed position so that the baggage cart is at all times ready to be moved throughout the terminal, by the user, when needed. This spring lifts the seat off the floor as soon as the user stands up, but the seat is always ready to be manually moved down to the deployed position, by the user, whenever needed, by downward pressure. When seated, the user""s weight on the seat retains it in the horizontal level position. The light weight spring assemblies, in the seat hinge, require a light load to overcome their return to stowed baggage cart mobile position.
As a second embodiment, the seat assemblage can be mounted on either side of any typical conventional luggage cart now in use at the terminals. If desired, a seat assemblage can be installed on both sides of the cart and provide seating for more than one person.
As a third embodiment, this spring seat assemblage can also be attached to the back of the cart and for such purpose the present invention also provides a means for rotation of the push handle, which rotation is provided by a mechanism that simultaneously moves the seat from the stowed up position to a deployed ready-to-seat position. This is necessary for the back seat assembly embodiment inasmuch as the horizontal push handle, projecting aft from the cart, interferes with the head room of the seated user. Rotation of the handle up, and out of the way, provides a means for also deployment of the spring driven seat to its operating position. This invention provides the means for combining the rotation of the handle and rotation of the seat from the folded up position to the extended down seating position in one sole operation, thus linking together both operations with a simple linkage that can be attached to any sort of cart or equivalent. The present invention mitigates and/or obviates the afore described head room disadvantage and improves the fold up function and packaging of the folded seat in the folded up position, ensuring that when the handle is rotated down, the seat will be folded up into its stowed position and the legs of the assembly have been lifted up, and off the floor, and will not drag when the cart loaded with luggage is pushed around the terminal. As the said handle is rotated from the horizontal level position to the vertical head clearance position, two extension arms attached to the push handle, and extending beyond the said handle rotation pivot, also rotate. When the said push handle rotates upward, the extension arms, being on the opposite side of the pivot, rotate downward around the said pivot. Attached to the end of each extension arm is a long link that connects to two seat fittings, one on each side of the seat. Each fitting is firmly attached to the seat frame and at a reasonable distance away from the seat pivot hinge, in order to provide good leverage for movement of the seat in a rotational direction. As the push handle is rotated upward, the extension arm rotates downwards and pushes the long side links downward which, in turn, drive the seat from the stowed vertical attitude to a horizontal level attitude, for traveler seating accomodation. In reverse, the push handle being rotated downward, from its upright vertical position, in turn rotates the two extension arms upward and pulls on the long links attached at their ends, and by pulling on these links they pull upward on the seat assembly and rotate it to a stowed vertical position. Rotation to this position lifts the seat vertical legs upward off of the floor, and stows them in a vertical attitude, folded under the stowed seat assembly in a compact position. Installed within the seat hinge is the spring device. The seat and a seat back board contain cushing provisions for comfort of tired traveler. With the seat in the stowed up location, the cushioned seat and the cushioned back are brought together face to face. To ensure that the seat is secured in the folded up position, the linkage travels over-center to latch the seat in the upright stow attitude to prevent the seat and handle from being rotated accidentally. The cart user merely releases the overcenter lockup condition by pulling on the handle when he wishes to extend the seat, or fold it up for cart with luggage movement.